


it always comes back around to her

by youmeandem



Category: Batwoman (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:07:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22990711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youmeandem/pseuds/youmeandem
Summary: “Batwoman can’t have a girlfriend, Kate.”Kate doesn’t reply. She stares at the hollow mask staring back at her and can’t help but feel like it’s mocking her.or:kate deals with the complications that come with dating her ex as batwoman
Relationships: Kate Kane/Sophie Moore
Comments: 17
Kudos: 177





	it always comes back around to her

Sophie kisses her and everything melts away.

Kate didn’t expect Sophie and Batwoman to start _dating_. In all fairness, she didn’t expect Sophie to kiss Batwoman in the first place but for it to become a reoccurring event is something she never could’ve predicted.

“So now you’re just dating her,” Mary says when they have dinner together one night.

“As Batwoman.”

Mary puts her fork down. “How does that even work? Do you just never take the mask off?”

Kate shrugs. “Only when it’s dark.”

Mary stares at her for a really long time. “I hate that. It’s one thing hiding your identity from me, your _sister_ , which is fine and I’m totally over and not at all offended by, by the way, but from your girlfriend who’s also your ex from six years ago except she doesn’t know that now you’re technically _back_ _together_? I hate everything about that.”

“It makes her happy.”

“She has no idea who’s under that mask,” Mary says, emphasizing her words by jabbing her knife in Kate’s direction. “I’m, like, at least 92 percent sure she’d rather date you as you than Batwoman if she knew that was an option.”

Kate swallows a mouthful of food, trying to look like she doesn’t care about what Mary thinks. “That’s an oddly specific number.”

Realistically she knows she can’t keep up the whole Batwoman act forever. At some point Sophie will wanna see her face and Kate doesn’t want to keep sneaking out every morning before Sophie wakes up, leaving her a note instead of a kiss. And even if it’s not an issue, then eventually they might wanna move in together and it’ll be a little weird to tell Sophie then.

But what if Sophie doesn’t wanna be with _Kate_? What if she only wants to be with Batwoman, and once Kate tells her the truth she won’t want anything to do with her anymore? Maybe there’s too much history to recover from.

Mary looks at Kate like she wants to say something but doesn’t. But Kate already knows. Sophie and Tyler split up weeks ago, and Sophie still hasn’t come knocking on her door. In fact, they’ve mostly only been seeing each other when Kate was Batwoman.

Kate can take a hint.

“Just don’t come crying to me when this whole thing blows up right in your face,” Mary says, even though they both know she doesn’t mean it.

Kate changes the subject.

Something twitches in Kate’s heart when she sneaks out of Sophie’s bed the next morning, grabbing her mask from where it’d been thrown on the floor in a rush to get undressed. She shoves it on along with the rest of her suit, a task that’s significantly harder in the dark, even after the amount of practice she’s had the past couple of weeks.

As she pulls up the zipper, Sophie rolls over in the bed. “Stay.”

Her voice is low and sleepy, and the idea of crawling back into Sophie’s arms is so tempting Kate almost complies.

“I’m sorry,” she says instead, leaning down to press a goodbye kiss against Sophie’s lips. “Go back to sleep. It’s still early.”

“’kay,” Sophie mumbles. “Miss you already.”

Shoving down the feelings surging through her body, Kate slips out of the bedroom. She crosses the apartment, makes her way onto the balcony, and gets ready to leap over the railing.

She jumps.

A bright flash nearly blinds her.

She crashes into a pile of empty boxes in the alley down below, her suit absorbing most of the blow. “Fuck.”

She looks up. A dark figure is running up the fire escape of the building opposite Sophie’s. Kate doesn’t hesitate. She shoots her grapple hook, attaching it to the same fire escape. The wind blows through her wig, and then the metal creaks underneath her boots as she runs up the stairs. Her heart races in her chest as she fire escape leads her onto the roof of the building.

It’s empty.

“Show yourself!” she whisper-shouts, torn between not wanting to wake the entire neighborhood and really needing to figure out who the fuck is spying on her… girlfriend?

No one comes forward. Obviously.

The sound of gravel behind her makes her whip her head around. Two curious yellow eyes stare back at her. A cat.

“Never mind,” Kate tells the cat. “I’ll get off your roof.”

The cat meows in response.

Her phone buzzes underneath her pillow. Kate groans and rolls over, feeling for her phone. Her screen flashes bright with two missed calls from Luke and what must be at least ten texts from Mary.

“What the fuck?” Kate mutters to no one but herself, swiping over the screen. Right as she navigates to Mary’s texts, Luke’s name appears on her screen again.

Kate picks up. “What?”

“Did you see the tabloids?”

“No?”

Luke hangs up. Barely two seconds later another text pops up on the screen. It’s a link to an article on one of Gotham’s biggest gossip websites.

Kate’s heart drops.

_DOES BATWOMAN HAVE A SECRET GIRLFRIEND? ALL ABOUT THE MYSTERY GIRL HOOKING UP WITH GOTHAM’S NEW BAT._

Unable to breathe, Kate skims the article. It doesn’t actually reveal any information about Sophie’s identity, just speculates about who the ‘mystery girl’ could be, but towards the end there’s a bunch of pictures of the two of them standing close together on Sophie’s balcony. In most of the photos Batwoman blocks Sophie from view, but there’s one that clearly shows half of Sophie’s face.

Kate nearly throws her phone across the room.

How could she have let this happen? She should’ve been more careful. Sophie didn’t ask for this. Sophie isn’t even _out_ to most of the world. Does this website even know they just outed her? What if someone with ill intentions sees the article and is able to identify her? Sophie could be in danger.

She has to do something.

She calls Luke. “Can you get that article offline?”

“Sure, but it’s not the only one that’s up. Whoever took those pictures sold them to a bunch of different tabloids _and_ news outlets.”

Kate’s fists ache to punch someone. “We need to get rid of all of them.”

“Kate—”

“Just get started, okay? I’m on my way.”

Kate runs into Mary in the lobby of their apartment building. Neither of them says anything, but Mary turns on her heels and follows Kate outside.

Kate can’t stop tapping her foot on the way down to the Batcave.

She’s halfway through suiting up when Luke and Mary approach her.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Kate puts on her mask. “Sophie’s.”

Luke and Mary share a look. Kate hates the way they’ve become closer and can now apparently communicate without words.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Luke asks, gesturing at the tablet he’s holding. “She’s probably already being watched by a bunch of paparazzi waiting for the next shot of her and Batwoman together.”

Kate looks at him. She hasn’t been able to take a proper breath since she woke up this morning. “What do you suggest I do?”

Luke hangs his head. “I don’t know.”

“I’ll check on her,” Mary says, taking a step closer to Kate. She gives her a soft smile. “I’ll keep in touch.”

As Mary leaves the Batcave, Kate sinks into a chair with her head in her hands. “This is all my fault.”

Luke says nothing.

“You’re supposed to disagree with me or make me feel better or something,” Kate says, pulling the mask off again. Knowing Mary is checking up on Sophie makes her feel a little better, but it should be her. She should be able to go to Sophie’s place without it being front page news.

For the first time since putting on the mask it feels like a constraint.

“You want me to lie?” Luke asks, taking a seat opposite of Kate.

Kate shakes her head.

“By associating Batwoman with Sophie, you’re putting a target on her back. That’s why superheroes keep their identities a secret. Not to protect themselves, but to protect the people they care about.” He pauses, giving her an uncharacteristically stern look. “Batwoman can’t have a girlfriend, Kate.”

Kate doesn’t reply. She stares at the hollow mask staring back at her and can’t help but feel like it’s mocking her.

Mary texts that Sophie is safe. A little shaken up, but safe.

Kate knows she shouldn’t be here, but she can’t help herself. She has to see Sophie with her own eyes.

It’s close to midnight. She did a sweep of the parameter and found no one. If there were paparazzi, they all left before she arrived.

Still, she’s on high alert and quiet as a mouse as she lands on Sophie’s balcony. The lights in the living room are on, and Kate doesn’t even have to knock on the window to get Sophie’s attention. As soon as she lands, Sophie’s head whips up in Kate’s direction.

She’s in a rush to open the balcony door and pull Kate inside, drawing all the curtains before turning around to face her—eyes wide with disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

“I had to make sure you’re okay,” Kate says, wincing at the sound coming out of the voice modulator.

Sophie relaxes, a smile spreading across her lips. “It’s been a day, but I’m okay.”

Kate nods once. “I’m really sorry. I should’ve known better.”

She starts to leave, but then, in an almost reminiscent way, Sophie’s voice pulls her back. “Wait.”

Kate turns.

“Stay,” Sophie pleads.

Kate looks at her—the soft look in her eyes, the curl of the lips that she loves so much… She exhales. “I can’t keep putting you in danger for my own gain.”

Sophie all but rolls her eyes. “No offense, _Batwoman_ , I don’t know if you know this, but I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I am— _was_ —a Crow.”

Kate makes a mental note to talk to her dad about reinstating Sophie. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you.”

“My safety is not your responsibility.”

“I beg to differ.”

Before Kate can object, Sophie leans in and kisses her, open-mouthed and everything. It’s intoxicating and Kate can feel her worries fade away. She moves to deepen the kiss, but Sophie pulls back ever so slightly, mumbling against her lips as she speaks. “Do you really want to lose this?”

Kate breathes. She knows Sophie is capable. They were at Point Rock together. Most of their training is the same, with the exception of the handful of things Kate learned after being kicked out. But Sophie’s been with the Crows for a long time now, and surely she learned a lot during her time there, too.

She sighs. “Okay.”

Sophie smirks against Kate’s mouth.

A week passes. Nothing eventful happens. Kate stops a museum robbery and an idiot with a semi-automatic rifle, and no one gets hurt. She spends most of her days in her bar or Wayne Tower, and most of her nights in Sophie’s arms.

No new pictures surface and no new articles get written. It seems like Gotham has forgotten about Batwoman and her mystery girlfriend, and Kate starts to carefully hope the whole thing is going to quietly blow over.

And then everything happens all at once.

Kate isn’t the most sentimental person. Sure, she has feelings and sometimes they’re stronger than she’d like to admit, but she doesn’t believe in all the bullshit that people can _feel_ when something is wrong with the person they love.

So when her heart skips a beat in the middle of the day, she just continues cleaning the bar from the party the night before and doesn’t think too much of it. Sophie doesn’t even cross her mind.

(Okay, that’s a lie. Sophie’s always on her mind. But that’s a whole different context.)

It’s not until a couple hours later when Luke texts her to come to Wayne Tower that she realizes something is wrong; the absence of his usual bat emoji combined with the urgency of the text is enough to fill everyone’s mind with all kinds of worst case scenarios.

And when she arrives and there’s no chatter or even bickering between Luke and Mary, her heart sinks even further.

“Spill.”

Luke clears his throat. “Sophie’s missing.”

Kate freezes. “What?!”

“So we were supposed to meet up for lunch today, because apparently we’re friends now,” Mary starts, her tone a tad more serious than Kate is used to. “But she never showed up. So I thought maybe she’d forgotten since, you know, she has a lot on her mind with Dad suspending her from the Crows and dating Batwoman and everything—”

“Get to the point, Mary.”

Mary gives Kate a look, but aside from annoyance there’s also sadness in her eyes. “Anyway, I called her, like, three times like a total stalker, but she didn’t pick up a single time. So then, since I was already stalking her ass, I decided to go to her place. But she didn’t answer to buzz me up, and even when I slipped in with someone else and went up to her floor she didn’t answer. I spent at least ten minutes knocking on her door, but no one was there. So then I called Luke.”

Luke clears his throat. “I checked the surveillance footage from around Sophie’s building, but the only thing I could see was this.” He types something on the computer and pulls up a grainy video of something white stopping in the corner of the screen. Luke fast-forwards the video until twenty minutes later, when the white thing disappears again.

“So what does that mean?” Kate asks, even though she already knows what it means. There’s still a part of her that wishes it’s not the case.

Luke hangs his head. “We think someone kidnapped her in a white van.”

Kate’s mind goes blank.

Sophie’s been kidnapped.

Sophie’s in danger.

All because Kate was too weak to let her go.

“Did you check all the neighboring security footage for a plate?” she asks, her voice almost robotic.

“I have software running,” Luke says, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the screen. “But nothing’s come up yet.”

“Keep it going. We _have_ to find her.”

Mary reaches out to squeeze Kate’s arm. “We will. Luke’s got this thing going on and you’re Batwoman—”

“Batwoman is why she got kidnapped in the first place,” Kate snarls, pushing herself away from the group. She starts pacing up and down the room. “This is all my fault. I should’ve never let her talk me into doing this. You said it yourself, I painted a target on her back the moment I gave in.”

She looks up to find Luke and Mary staring intently at the floor and shuffling their feet around. She stops. “What?”

They avoid her gaze.

“ _What_?” she repeats, glaring at them until finally Luke cracks.

“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think you’re entirely at fault for this. Sophie made the decision to keep dating Batwoman. She knew the risks. You gave her an out, and she wanted you anyway. That puts at least a little bit of responsibility on her.”

Kate shakes her head. “She didn’t know what she was getting into.”

“She knew enough.”

“Weren’t you the one telling me I had to stop seeing Sophie in the first place?” Kate asks pointedly. “You warned me this was gonna happen and I didn’t listen and now it happened. And now you’re telling me I shouldn’t take the blame? Make up your mind, Luke.”

Luke shrugs. “You made a valid point when you said Sophie’s a trained soldier who knows what she’s doing.”

“You’re gonna give me whiplash one of these days.”

The computer behind Luke pings. Everyone turns towards the screen, where Luke pulls up half a dozen videos of a white van driving through the city until it stops at an abandoned factory.

Kate’s already suiting up when Luke and Mary turn around.

Kate parks her motorcycle next to the white van. Whoever kidnapped Sophie did a really bad job at hiding.

Thank god.

Kate’s hands are trembling slightly as she approaches the building. It’s dumb. She’s been Batwoman for months now, and she’s never nervous. Ever. And yet, as she circles the factory, looking for a quiet way inside, she can barely breathe.

“Luke? Mary? Are you guys there?”

“We’re here, Kate,” Mary says in a surprisingly steady voice. Her tone calms Kate’s heart.

She spots an unhinged door. “I’m going in.”

“Be careful.” The line turns static for a moment, before going completely silent, leaving Kate alone with her thoughts.

It’s dark inside the factory, the large space illuminated only by a handful of flickering lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling. Kate assumes a careful and quiet step to avoid bumping into any old machinery. If there’s one thing she learned it’s that the element of surprise always works in her favor.

As she moves through the factory, she realizes there are voices coming from one of the offices at the far end. She tries to hear what they’re saying, but either she’s too far away or they’re too quiet, until—

_Smack_.

She freezes.

“One more chance. Who’s Batwoman?” a male voice booms.

Kate’s heart hammers against her chest as she sneaks closer to the office, where two guys are standing guard at the half-open door. Through it, she sees three more men standing around a person tied to a chair—Sophie. One of the men, the one with his back towards the door, leans over her, the shimmering of the overhead lightbulb on his blade blindingly bright.

“Good news is I found her,” Kate breathes into her comms, not taking her eyes off of the sliver of Sophie she can see peeking out from behind the man. “Bad news is I don’t know if she’s—”

“I told you: I don’t know.” Sophie’s voice is weak and quiet, like it takes all the strength in her body to form the words, but at the same time still fierce and defying.

It’s one of the reasons Kate loves her so much.

“If she’s _what_?” Mary whisper-shouts, clearly forgetting that no one but Kate and Luke can hear her.

“She’s alive,” Kate whispers back.

“ _Stop lying_!” the boss man yells, drawing his fist back for another punch.

But Kate’s faster. Her mind sharpened by the sight of Sophie hurt and tied up, she somehow manages to grab a batarang and throw it right at his hand.

He screams as the sharp edges of it dig into his skin.

Kate uses the distraction to catapult herself towards the two guards via grappling hook, knocking both of them unconscious before they even realize what’s happening.

The other guys who were in the office come charging out, each of them wielding a knife, and one of them nearly slashes into her before she manages to disarm them both. It’s not really a fair fight after that, and she takes them out in mere seconds.

She turns towards the office and her breath falters.

Boss man has his knife pressed against Sophie’s throat, a thin line of blood already forming at the edge of his blade, and there’s more blood stains on her shirt. Kate can’t see if it’s Sophie’s blood or if it’s all from the deep cut on the man’s hand where the batarang hit, but judging by the way Sophie’s clearly hanging on by a thread it’s a mixture of both.

“Not a step closer or your pretty girlfriend dies,” the man says, forcing Sophie’s head up with his knife. Her eyes meet Kate’s, quietly trying to tell her something. But she’s hanging in the ropes and more blood trickles down her throat and Kate can’t think properly.

“Let her go,” she says, _begs_. “You don’t have to hurt her.”

The man chuckles. “You’re right. I don’t have to. But I want to.”

Kate tries to force nonchalance. “Right. Is this where you start your evil villain monologue? Because I don’t really have time for that, and we both know you don’t stand a chance against me. So I’d like to just get this over with.”

Maybe it’s not the strongest wording, but it does its job: the man is distracted by his own rage towards Batwoman long enough for Sophie to knock her head backwards—right into his nose.

It’s over after that. Kate leaps across the room and wrestles the knife away from the man. He’s significantly more well-trained than his goons, but he’s still no match for four years of military training and six years of training with the greatest fighters in the world after that.

He goes down screaming.

After she’s done dealing with him, Kate rushes back to Sophie’s side. Her eyes are closed and her face is ashen. Kate undoes the ropes used to tie Sophie to the chair, and carefully places her on the ground, her head in Kate’s lap.

“Hey, Soph, hey,” Kate says, willing her voice to keep steady. “Open your eyes for me, okay? You’re gonna be fine. I’m here now.”

Sophie blinks her eyes open, but she can’t seem to get them to focus on Kate’s face. “Hey, B— He stabbed me.”

Kate doesn’t waste time grabbing at the hem of Sophie’s shirt and hitching it up. The fabric is drenched in blood and there, right next to the still-healing scar from the bullet wound a couple months ago, is a deep stab wound. No wonder Sophie’s so out of it. Kate’s no doctor, but even she can see that Sophie’s lost way too much blood already.

She looks at Sophie’s face again, wishing more than anything to see her smile once more. “Stay with me, alright? Help is on the way.”

“Okay,” Sophie says, voice so low it’s barely audible.

Kate clicks the comms back on. “Okay, I think we need to call an ambulance.”

A beat. Then:

“Ambulance is on its way,” Luke says, and Kate’s never been more glad to hear his voice.

“How does it look?” Mary asks.

“There’s a lot of blood,” Kate says, not daring to take her eyes off of Sophie’s face, convinced that as long as they remain eye-contact it’s gonna be okay. “She said they stabbed her. I see no other wounds.”

“What color is the blood?”

Kate blinks. “Red.”

“No shit, Sherlock. Bright or dark?”

“Oh. Dark.”

Mary exhales audibly. “Okay, that’s good. Apply direct pressure on the wound.”

Kate does as she says. “And then?”

“Wait for the ambulance to arrive.”

Kate doesn’t reply. She keeps her eyes locked with Sophie’s and tries not to think too much about how her blood is steadily soaking Kate’s glove.

Sophie’s eyes slip closed as the ambulance’s sirens reach Kate’s ears, barely five minutes later. Kate waits until they’ve busted through the door and their footsteps are rapidly approaching before carefully putting Sophie’s head down on the concrete and vanishing into the darkness.

She watches from the shadows as they load Sophie onto a stretcher and into the ambulance, heart wrenching at the thought that this is all her fault.

Kate, like everyone else, hates hospitals. The smell of disinfectant burns in her nose and she can’t stand the way everyone always looks _sad_.

She hates that she’s here, also sad.

After the ambulance took Sophie away, Kate went back to the Batcave where she scrubbed at her glove for what felt like hours, but the blood refused to come out. In the end, Luke threw it in a bowl with some substance he used to clean the suit to let it soak for a while.

Kate’s used to washing blood out of her clothes, but it’s always her own or some bad guy’s. Never that of someone she cares about. Someone she loves.

Her hand is still trembling slightly as she approaches the front desk. “I’m here to see Sophie Moore.”

The receptionist doesn’t even look at her as she looks up Sophie’s name in the computer. “Ms. Moore is still in surgery.”

“Just point me to wherever she’ll be afterwards,” Kate says, acutely aware of the desperate tone in her voice. The receptionist seems to notice as well, finally giving her a sad look.

“ICU waiting room is on the third floor.”

Kate thanks the receptionist and makes her way to the elevator. At this time of night, barely anyone’s in the corridors, except a few doctors and one patient shuffling around with an IV. When she gets to the waiting area she lets herself fall into one of the uncomfortable hospitals chairs and waits.

Mary visits in the morning with breakfast and coffee. Kate drains the coffee, but she can’t put her mind to food.

“Any news?” Mary asks.

Kate shakes her head. “She’s still in surgery. They better not fuck her up.”

Mary looks at her. “I’ll ask around.”

Mary comes back fifteen minutes later. “She’s just out of surgery. It went well, I think. She’ll be back soon.”

Kate finishes the entire breakfast sandwich in one bite.

Another hour passes, but it’s much easier now that Kate knows she didn’t cost Sophie her life. Right as Mary is about to leave for class, Sophie’s wheeled past them in her hospital bed, still hooked up to various machines but no longer looking ashen.

Kate jumps up. “How is she?”

The doctor with Sophie looks up and down Kate’s body. “Are you family?”

“I—”

“I’ll deal with this,” Mary says, gently pushing Kate out of the way. She faces the doctor. “I’m Mary Hamilton, med student at Gotham University, and this is my sister, Kate Kane. We’re the closest to family Sophie has in Gotham.”

Kate doesn’t hear the rest of whatever Mary tells him, eyes glued to the door of the room they just wheeled Sophie’s bed into. She tries to breathe. Sophie’s fine. She’s _fine_. She’s gonna be fine.

“Fine, you can go in,” the doctor says, looking too tired from working the night shift to listen to Mary’s entire story. “Just don’t be too loud. Ms. Moore needs to rest.”

Kate and Mary approach the room.

“You go in,” Mary says. “I’ll come by later.”

“Are you sure?”

Mary nods. “I have class anyway, and I don’t wanna come between all your drama.”

She reaches out to give Kate a quick hug, but Kate pulls her into a tight embrace instead. Mary lets out a surprised yelp.

“Thanks, Mary. For everything,” Kate says, even though she knows she’ll be hearing about her emotional moment of vulnerability later and maybe for the rest of her life.

But right now, Mary just gives her a soft smile. “You’re welcome.”

Sophie looks incredibly small in the hospital bed, with white sheets and beeping machines.

Her eyes are closed at first, but they flutter open when Kate pulls up a chair. She looks at her and a soft smile crosses her face. “Hey, Kate.”

“Hey, Soph.” Kate reaches for Sophie’s hand. She needs to _feel_ that Sophie’s okay. And Sophie lets her. “Heard you got hurt. How are you feeling?”

“Not half as bad if Batwoman hadn’t come to save me.”

Kate grimaces. “I’m sure she did great.”

“She kicked all those guys’ asses and stayed with me until the ambulance came.”

“She shouldn’t have put you in that position in the first place,” Kate says, unable to keep the anger out of her voice. “She should’ve known people were gonna come after you. She should’ve known better.”

Sophie tenses, but she doesn’t pull her hand away. “I knew the risks, Kate. And I knew she’d save me. I wasn’t scared.”

“Bullshit. By continuing to see you, Batwoman put you right in the line of fire. I can’t believe you’re okay with that.” Kate suddenly realizes she’s raised her voice, and sighs, hanging her head. “I just don’t want to see you hurt.”

“I know.” Sophie attempts to sit up in her bed, face contorting from the pain. She presses her free hand against her side, breathing heavy as she relaxes into the pillow again. “Well, shit. That hurts.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You just tried to help, and if you hadn’t shown up—” Sophie stops talking. Looks at Kate.

Kate pulls her hand back. “What are you talking about?”

Sophie’s heart rate monitor speeds up. “I know it’s you, Kate. And don’t tell me you’re not.”

“I—”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t know it was you after we kissed on that roof? We were together for three years. I know every part of your body and how it feels against mine.”

Kate stares at her. Her mind is simultaneously racing and completely blank.

Sophie knows. She’s known for weeks. And yet—

“You didn’t tell my dad.”

“It’s not my place to tell.” Sophie’s voice is quiet, and Kate’s suddenly reminded they’re in a hospital and Sophie just got out of surgery.

She reaches for Sophie’s hand again, and Sophie lets her. “What changed your mind?”

“If I want to put myself in danger to be with you, then I should let you make your own decisions, too, even if I don’t agree with them,” Sophie says simply, her eyes and smile going impossibly soft, and then, “I love you.”

Kate’s heart skips a beat, but for an entirely different reason this time. “I love you, too.”

Sophie scoots over as best she can to let Kate climb onto the bed. She winces only a little when Kate puts her arm around her waist, careful not to touch the bandage on her stomach, but then lets her head settle against Kate’s shoulder.

“You know, this is probably illegal,” Kate says.

Sophie shrugs. “You’ve already got me breaking, like, four different rules. I don’t care about this one. It’s not like they’re gonna fire me.”

Kate doesn’t even bother suppressing her smile. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“I’m a changed woman.”

Sophie grins up at her, all mischievous and cute, and Kate can’t help herself. She kisses Sophie, who kisses her back. For the first time in six years, Kate’s heart feels at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> the rumors are true, i am a batmoore now
> 
> please leave kudos or a comment if you liked it, or find me on twitter @luthvers or tumblr @ lenacorporations
> 
> thanks to astrid for proofreading. title is from circles by emily wolfe as featured in batwoman 107


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